An Inspector Calls

WILF  Insightful exploratory response to task  Insightful exploratory response to text  Close analysis of detail to support interpretation  Evaluation on the writer’s use of language and/or structure and effect on audience  Convincing/imaginative interpretation of ideas/themes

Intervention Opportunity  Mr. Frammingham (characters) & Mrs. Griffifths (themes) will be offering further support on AIC on Tuesdays

Intervention Opportunity  Mr. Gooda will be offering an early introduction to Wikispaces on Wednesday after school (Wikispace Wednesday in E1). I’ll be putting all resources and a selection of past exams on Wikispaces leading up to the exam. I feel this will be valuable

Intervention Opportunity  I’ll also be offering drop in sessions every day from here to the literature exams for anyone who would like extra support from 3:00-4:30  Please let me know if you’re planning on taking advantage of these sessions

Homework Check  You are being handed a homework check test  Think carefully before you answer. Once you commit pen to paper it is an official answer ◦ Think twice, circle once

Things to Consider  Stage directions – They’re the closest thing we get to a narrator’s voice. Treat these as absolute gospel!  Setting – Dining room ◦ Symbol of a middle-class lifestyle (no dining rooms in 1912) – The very setting emphasizes privilege and difference ◦ The general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike

Sheila  Shows a drastic change from beginning to the end  SD – A pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”  Immature, although in her twenties ◦ Referred to as a ‘girl’ in the stage directions ◦ Says ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ in the text

Sheila – Priestley’s Favourite Character  Eric says “She’s got a nasty temper sometimes – but she’s not bad really. Good old Sheila!” ◦ Does this accurately represent Sheila?  Although she’s dazzled by the ring at the start (suggests materialism and juvenility) and looks for her mother’s approval ◦ “Look – Mummy – isn’t it a beauty?” – “Careful! I’ll never let it go out of my sight for an instant” ◦ she’s mature enough to hand the ring back and claim her own relational status near the end, and do it independently).

Sheila – Independent Woman  However, there are hints of an independent woman  Priestly is championing an independent life for Shiela ◦ Challenges Gerald over last summer and his long hours  Represents the voice that Priestly wants the post-war generation to have ◦ Society NEEDS to change  Her marriage to Gerald appears to be more about a business alliance than any romantic gesture (think Lord Capulet – Paris) ◦ She is let down by both men in her life – Gerald and Birling ◦ Gerald, who cheats on her and says he was ‘too busy’ when he was having an affair

Emotion Signifies Caring  When Goole reveals what happened to Eva Brown, Sheila isn’t in the room ◦ Eric is ‘my God’ – (Eric also represents youth) ◦ Sheila walks in on a man’s world  She is being protected  She’s repeatedly being told to leave the room  Her refusal to do so in pursuit of the truth speaks to the modern emergence of women into the world ◦ Provides an emotional response to the death of Eva Smith (unlike Sybil and Arthur) ◦ Once she finds out “oh – how horrible”  The dash indicates the scale of the events/scenario

Sheila – The Spoiled Brat  Sheila has Eva sacked because of her insecurities ◦ Abuses her influence (see Curley’s Wife) ◦ However, Sheila admits she ‘felt rotten (juvenile language) about it at the time”  Suggests she’s grown up since then and will continue to mature

Sheila – Little Girl Grown Up  She’s the first to realize the scope of the Inspector’s power ◦ “I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see. You’ll see.”  Repetition and absolute belief in IG  Repetition acts to heighten suspicion and tension at the secrets yet to be unfolded  She’s wise and intelligent – hope for a new world

Sheila – Hysterical Girl  Is repeatedly referred to as “hysterical” in stage directions and quotes ◦ Both stage directions and in the dialogue ◦ (26, 27 SD, 27 SB, 48 Mrs)

Sheila – Mature Woman  She ends the play as mature ◦ “I respect you more than I’ve ever done” (40) ◦ “I don’t dislike you as I did a half an hour ago (40) ◦ Yet she was going to marry him  “You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here ◦ Then she breaks up with him  Independent mind is growing

Sheila – The Real Inspector  She ends the play being the voice of the Inspector  “Stage direction – “Flaring Up”  It’s you two who are being childish – trying not to face facts’  I suppose we’re nice people now  She invites the audience to look down at the Birlings and the Birlings that exist in the real world  “But these girl’s aren’t cheap labour – they’re people”  First to pick up on Eric’s involvement  Realises that Gerald knew Daisy Renton  First to wonder who the Inspector really is  “I don’t understand about you”  “He’s giving us the rope – so that we’ll hang ourselves” ◦ First to consider IG may not be real

Sheila – The Real Inspector  Earlier in play she’s described as ‘half- serious, half-playful’ (twice in short succession 3) ◦ Does she use the playfulness to fill society’s expectations for her? ◦ Does this direction foreshadow Sheila’s positive turn throughout the night?  She is the harbinger of change that Priestly champions through honest social responsibility

Sheila – The Real Inspector  She’s stubborn like her parents but rather than use her stubbornness to resist the inspector she uses hers to seek out the truth ◦ Demands that Gerald and Sybil answer the Inspector’s questions and tells Birling not to interfere ◦ She also asks a lot of questions, contradicts and interferes – Mirroring the moral authority of the Inspector ◦ She’s taking control of the dynamic – going against Edwardian roles

Where Do We Leave Sheila  End of the Play – She is wiser and judges her parents from a new perspective. Her social conscience has been awakened.

WILF  Insightful exploratory response to task  Insightful exploratory response to text  Close analysis of detail to support interpretation  Evaluation on the writer’s use of language and/or structure and effect on audience  Convincing/imaginative interpretation of ideas/themes